Follow the Best of the Examples

I love the way babies mimic their parents. It is cute and sometimes amazing. You think, “Wow, they are copying mom and dad.” I noticed this in a seven-month-old baby last week who was doing something just like his dad. It was endearing. He didn’t know he was doing it, and I don’t know if his dad even noticed. All of us are copying or mimicking, following the example of someone. I think of a certain preacher, and I can see and hear the influence of three distinct preachers in his preaching. That can be good, and in the case I am thinking of, it is good. There have been preachers who have influenced me as well.

Oftentimes when we mimic someone else, it tends to be frivolous and unthinking. We don’t even know we are doing it. The easiest things to copy are personal tics as opposed to personal convictions, and sometimes it is the bad things we copy.

In any event, II Chronicles 33 is a graphic example of following examples. There is a father and son, both of them kings. The father’s life is summed up in verses 18-19 where it says about Manasseh, “Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh…his prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sins…before he was humbled.” The summary of his life included that which was good and that which was bad.

First, it was bad. He sinned. Verse 9 says he caused Judah to sin worse than the heathen around them. Because of God’s judgment, Manasseh changed his ways, and verse 16 says he “commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.” So, he had done bad; God judged him; and did that which was right.

So, how do you follow the example of a person when there is more than one example coming from them?” Verses 22-23 give us the answer to that question, at least in this particular case. When Manasseh’s son Ammon became king, verse 22 says, “But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father.” He did evil. Whose example was he following? It was his father’s. Verse 23, speaking again of Ammon, says “And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself.” Whose example was Ammon not following? The answer again is his father’s. In one case, he followed his dad’s example. In the other case, he did not follow his dad’s example. In both cases, he did exactly the wrong thing.

Now, we can think of good examples in our lives, but rarely is there anyone in life who is always giving the best of examples. The question is not just about whom are we going to mimic, but what part of that person will we choose to mimic. I think the truth is to follow the best of the examples before you.

Don’t blindly follow anyone’s example, but follow the best of the examples before you. In some cases, that means you need to mimic, in some cases it means you will need to do something different. In the case of Ammon, he did what he shouldn’t have done and he didn’t do what he should have done in regards to the example of his father. So, follow the best of the examples before you.

How do you do that? Observe whom they follow. Anyone you are following is following somebody else. In the case of Ammon, the Bible says of the evil part of his dad’s example was that he did evil like the heathen around him. The question to ask yourself when considering an example to follow is, “Whom are they following?” In I Corinthians Paul said to be followers of him as he was a follower of Christ. So, is the example you are copying following Christ?

I remember talking to a college president years ago, and he told me that when considering the graduates from his college, you had to know what era they came from to know what you would be getting. I remember that because it struck me as precisely the truth. How could you have graduates from the same college that were so different? The answer is that they were following the examples of the institution at different times in the institution’s collective life. So, observe whom you are following and whom they are following at the time.

Second, observe what happens. Whom are the ones you are copying following and what is the result? In Ammon’s case, the Bible says that when his father did evil, the Lord brought Assyria and judgment. When his father was in affliction, he besought the Lord and humbled himself. He prayed. God was entreated of him, and then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. So, when you are thinking of someone’s example, think what comes of this example. Does it honor God? Does it help others? Observe whom they are following and what happens when they do.

In closing, let me tell you that the sooner you start, the better you are. If you are the one leaving the example, it is easy to say, “This is not a big area. It doesn’t matter.” Friend, none of us is wise enough to know what matters and what is big enough to care about. Just do the right thing in the small things all the time and you will be okay. That requires the help of God Almighty.

So, if you are leaving an example, the sooner you start the better you are. If you are following an example, the sooner you start the better you are. All of us have choices and examples. All of us have variations within the examples. So, follow the best of the examples before you today and you will be glad you did.